[Zammoimp]

Hi all,

I understand that thier are the four main types of tates like:
First Earlies, Second Earlies,  Early Maincrop,  Late Maincrop

But i wold like to know when do you plant your first earlies and also what would the spaceing be to then plant your Earlt maincrop and Late Maincrop?

Many thanks Nathan

[peterjf]

in uk its traditional to plant your 1st earlies on good friday , this year we planted ours a week later ,1st earlies , 2nd earliies , main crop ,

all the 1st , 2nd and main , this means that the 1st earlies will be ready 1st 2nd will be 2nd and so on ,

its the amount of time it usually takes that particular spud to mature , unless im told wrong ,

we plant ours about 9-10 inches deep and 15-18 inches apart and bank them up with leaf mulch when plants are big enough

[DD.]

in uk its traditional to plant your 1st earlies on good friday

Personally, I find that a load of tosh! For example in 2000 Good Friday was on 23rd April, this year it was on 23rd March.  How you can use a date that varies by a month and fails to take regional weather variations into account, is beyond me!

Spuds usually fall in the categories, First Earlies, Second Earlies & Maincrop. This may help...

Taterbase

Here in the East Midlands, I tend to plant my First Earlies in late March, Second Earlies in Early April & Main Crop in Late April. Some people plant all at the same time, which is fine as each have a different growing season. However, if you're planting a large number, (about 400) in my case, this is physically impossible. (It is for me anyway!!).

Spacing wise, I go for 12" between spuds for the First Earlies, 15" for the Seconds, with 24" between rows.

Oh - wlecome to the forums BTW!

For Lates this is increased to 18" between spuds & 30" between rows.

Hope that helps, now stand by for 20 other different replies!!

[matron]

We bung them in all at the same time (209 over 2 days at the beginning of May this year).
Just starting to harvest first earlies now.

[DD.]

Blimey - been eating ours for 4 weeks - but I suppose it's grim up on them moors!!  

[Rampant_Weasel]

i plant mine all at the same time around the end of march, this year it was 3rd of april cos of cold weather and heavy frosts preceding that day.
i planted one bag of each - first and second earlies and lates. a foot between earlies and a foot and a half between lates (im a size 10   )
then i start eating them towards the end of may while they are pricey in the shops regardless of size - the seeds dont cost alot so my reason is its pointless paying for them when u have some of ur own even if ur only getting 3 or 4 spuds per plant.ive still got loads of 2nd earlies left and they will last til the lates are ready easily.this is to feed a family of 3 and im still experimenting with amounts.

[siztenboots]

i plant mine all at the same time around the end of march, this year it was 3rd of april cos of cold weather and heavy frosts preceding that day.

Planted my first lot (Rocket ) late Feb, the rest the following week in March, as the weather was good.

i planted one bag of each - first and second earlies and lates. a foot between earlies and a foot and a half between lates (im a size 10   )

I'm a sizten too, thats my boot measure between veg rows, but for the potatoes I used something longer to measure, about 18 inches ( ladies don't ask what I used  :shock: )